In a huge relief to the dissident BRS MLAs ,the Telangana High Court has set aside an order of a single-judge bench which had directed the Speaker to announce within four weeks a schedule to decide on the disqualification petition against three MLAs who had joined the Congress. The judges said in the fresh order that the Speaker should take a call on the disqualification petition within a “reasonable time.”
The Legislative Assembly secretary had filed the appeal to the division bench after a single judge bench had directed the Speaker to decide on a schedule to hear the disqualification petitions filed by two BRS MLAs KP Vivekanand and Padi Kaushik Reddy. BJP’s floor leader A Maheshwar Reddy had also filed a separate petition for disqualification. The petitions had sought the disqualification of BRS dissidents, Danam Nagender, Tellam Venkat Rao and Kadiyam Srihari. Subsequently. A total of ten BRS MLAs joined the Congress before the High Command apparently, put a stop to poaching attempts.
Today, the bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J Sreenivas Rao asked the Speaker to decide upon the disqualification petitions pending before him within a reasonable time, keeping in mind the tenure of the current Assembly. The Speaker, as the chairman of the tribunal constituted under the tenth schedule of the Constitution, must keep in mind its purpose and the Anti-Defection Law.
The direction of the division bench will give a bit of breathing space to the dissident BRS MLAs and the Congress leadership in Telangana. Congress will require at least 26 BRS MLAs to rebel in order to split the BRS Legislative